Adil Aouchiche reacts as Sunderland loanee avoids relegation with new club thanks to 99th-minute penalty
Timothee Pembele has spent the season at Le Havre in France
Sunderland loanee Timothee Pembele avoided a relegation play-off with new club Le Havre in the most dramatic of circumstances over the weekend.
The French outfit have been battling the drop from Ligue 1 all season, and headed into their final game of the campaign needing both a victory and a defeat for fellow strugglers Stade de Reims to ensure their safety.
To that end, Reims lost 2-1 to LOSC Lille after conceding an 86th minute penalty, but deep into extra time against Strasbourg, Le Havre still found themselves 16th in the table - a finish which would have consigned them to a relegation play-off against FC Metz.
In a last gasp twist, however, Pembele and his teammates pulled off a remarkable act of escapology when Abdoulaye Toure stepped up to convert a 99th-minute penalty, dinking his effort beyond a despairing goalkeeper to spark scenes of wild celebration.
Writing about the moment on Instagram, Pembele said: “I only trust my Desert Eagle and Abdoulaye Toure in stoppage time. We did it. Believe.” Responding to the post, fellow Sunderland loanee Adil Aouchiche, who spent the second half of the season with Portsmouth, said: “Essential player.”
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What has Timothee Pembele said about his move from Sunderland to Le Havre?
Speaking late last year, Pembele admitted that he had been eager to leave Sunderland at the time of his exit from the Stadium of Light. He said: “I really didn’t think that HAC would come looking for me! I was in second division in England, I wasn’t playing, and I thought I’d go back to Ligue 2. I have confidence in myself, I know I have the ability to play in Ligue 1, but in today’s football, when a player doesn’t play, he’s quickly forgotten.
“When my agent told me that Le Havre were interested in me, I said straight out, ‘Let’s go!’ I didn’t look to see where I stood in the pecking order, I just said to myself, ‘I’m going, I’m fighting, and we’ll see what happens!’
“In the end, it took a bit of time. I signed in the last few days of the window, and the coach gave me a warm welcome, telling me that I needed to get my rhythm back. So, I played one match with the reserves. In England, I played quite a few games with the reserves, and I was fed up with playing with younger players. But the coach explained to me that I had to play 90 minutes to get into a rhythm. After that, it was one thing after another.”
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